Electrical connector housing assembly

ABSTRACT

A CONNECTOR HOUSING ASSEMBLY FOR CONTACT TERMINALS COMPRISING A PAIR OF MATING HOUSINGS FORMED OF PLASTIC INSULATING MATERIAL AND HAVING AN ALIGNING MEANS TO ENSURE THAT THE HOUSINGS ARE CONFINED TO A DESIRED PATH DURING MATING OF THE   HOUSINGS THEREBY AVOIDING THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE TO THE CONTACT TERMINALS WITHIN THE HOUSINGS.

0 United States Patent 3,588,784

[72] Inventors John Philip Kunkle 2,994,056 7/1961 Fox 339/17Harrisburg; 3,065,447 1 1/1962 Maurer 339/184M Robert Charla Swengel,.Ir., York, Pa. 3,154,365 10/1964 Crimmins 339/176 [21] Appl. No.793,956 3,394,337 7/1968 Miller 339/91 [22] Filed Jan. 27, 19693,417,365 12/1968 Krehbiel 339/91 [45] Patented June 28, 1971 Prime ryExammer-Marvin A. Cham ion [73] Assign 3 Assistant Examinerloseph H.McGlSnn Attorneys-Curtis, Morris and Safiord, Marshall M.

Holcombe, William Hintze, William J. Keating, Frederick [541 ELECTRICALCDNNECTOR HOUSING ASSEMBLY W. Raring, John R. Hopkins, Adrian J. La Rueand Jay L.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing m Sertchrk [52] [1.8. CI. 339/65, 339/91, 339/113,339/184 [51] Int. CL H011 13/62 [50] Field of Search 339/65, 66,ABSTRACT; A connector housing assembly f Contact tep 1 184 minalscomprising a pair of mating housings formed of plastic insulatinmaterial and havin an ali in means to ensure [56] Ream Cited that theousings are confined to a desi i ed iath during mating UNITED STATESPATENTS of the housings thereby avoiding the possibility of damage to810,949 1/ 1906 Kloman 339/1 13 the contact terminals within thehousings.

WWW June 2&1971 3,588,784

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

JOHN PHILIP KUNKLE ROBERT CHARLES SWENGEL JR.

Patented June 28, 1971 3,588,784

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR HOUSING ASSEMBLY This inventionrelates to electrical connector housing assemblies and more particularlyto assemblies wherein a pair of mating housings are guided along apredetermined path during mating of said housings to prevent accidentaldamage to electrical contact terminals disposed within the housings.

In U.S. Pat. No; 3,367,729, having a common assignee with the instantapplication, there is disclosed an electrical connector housing of thesame general type as the housing assembly disclosed herein. In this typeof housing assembly, a problem could arise in that the housings areformed of an elasticallydeformable insulating material and therefore, ifimproperly handled by an operator, the housings could be misalignedduring engagement or disengagement of the mating parts. Any misalignmentbetween the mating housings can result in damage to the contactterminals located within the housings due to overstressing of variousterminal parts. Theinstant application solves this problem by providingan aligning member on one mating part and a receiving member on theother mating part which members will engage and properly align andorient the housings prior to engagement of the contacts within thehousings. The configuration of the aligning member provides a largesurface which will resist any tendency for the housings to becomedistorted during normal engagement and disengagement forces to therebyminimize the possibility of contact terminal damage. The aligning meanson the connector housings may take various forms dependent upon thedesired path which will be traveled by the contact terminals duringengagement.

It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide aconnector housing assembly having means for aligning and orienting themating housings prior to engagement of the contact terminals.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, in which like referencenumerals refer to like parts:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the housing assemblyofthe instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the housings of FIG. 1 in theirassembled position and showing contact terminals in mated position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view showing the locking arrangement between theconnector housings;

FIG. 4 is a top view showing the housings in their partially assembledposition prior to engagement between the contact terminals; and

FIG. 5 is a top view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the connectorhousings in their fully mated position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The attainments of the presentinvention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon areading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunctionwith the drawings in which there is shown and described an illustrativeembodiment of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that thisembodiment is not intended to be exhaustive nor limiting of theinvention but is given for purpose of illustration in order that othersskilled in the art may fully understand the invention and the principlesthereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that they maymodify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditionsof a particular use.

With reference now to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1 there isshown the connector housing assembly of the instant invention andcomprising a pair of mating housings designated at and 12. The housings10 and 12 are provided with contact terminal-receiving apertures 14 and16 respectively and within these apertures are disposed male terminals18 and female receptacles 20 respectively such as is well known in theart. It is to be understood throughout the description of this inventionthat the particular terminals shown are merely illustrative of one typeof terminal for use in connector housings and that the principles ofthis invention apply equally to other varied types of contact terminalsand to other housing configurations.

As noted above, the primary concern of this invention is in the properguidance of the housings l0 and 12 during their movement into matingposition. Housing 10 has a forward mating face 22 and housing 12 has aforward mating face 24. The mating faces of the housings extend slightlyforwardly of the leading edge of the contact terminals 18 and 20disposed within the housings. Therefore, if means are provided foraccurately aligning and orienting the housings 10 and 12 prior to thepoint at which the mating faces 22 and 24 are juxtaposed, the movementof the housings during contact terminal engagement will be confined to adesired path and will eliminate any twisting or misalignment of theconnectors which could possibly result in overstressing andmalfunctioning of the contact terminal.

The aligning function is achieved by means of a projecting member 26which extends a substantial distance forwardly of the mating face 22 ofhousing 10, and in addition, the projecting member is of substantialwidth to provide a broad surface over which stresses may be applied tominimize any distortion resulting from the nature of the material fromwhich the housing is formed. Member 26 is provided at its lateral edgeswith aligning surfaces 28 which are rectilinear and parallel to eachother. The surfaces 28 are also parallel to the contact terminals l8 anddefine the desired path of engagement between the terminals 18 and theirmating terminals 20. Although the surfaces 28 are shown as beingrectilinear, it is contemplated that other applications may utilizecontact terminals having a desired engagement path which isnonrectilinear, in which case the aligning surfaces 28 would have aconfiguration to correspond to such desired nonlinear path.

Housing 12 is provided along its upper surface with a pair of parallelrail members 30 which are spaced apart to receive the projecting member26 therebetween. The inner surfaces 32 of the rail members are beveledas are the surfaces 28 of member 26 whereby the beveling of the railsand aligning surfaces are complementary to provide means for retainingthe projecting member in engagement with the rails when the housings arein their mated positions. The forward edges 34 of the rail membersextend forwardly of the mating face 24 of the housing in order to insurethat full alignment between the housings l0 and 12 has occurred prior tothe point at which the mating faces of the two housings will meet.Housing 10 is provided with a pair of slots 36 disposed along oppositesides of projecting member 26 in order to provide clearance for therails 30 and also to provide for additional guidance of the rails duringmating of the housings. The extreme length of the surfaces 28 and therails 30 provide the necessary rigidity which constricts the movement ofthe housings during engagement and eliminates any possibility ofimproper mating of the housings. As seen in FIG. 4, full alignmentbetween the housings has occurred and yet the contact terminals 18 and20 have not been brought into engagement and therefore cannot bedamaged. Further movement of the housings into their fully matedpositions as shown in FIG. 5 ensures proper engagement between theentire series of contact terminals 18 and 20.

The housing 10 is provided with a pair of ribs 38 along its uppersurface in general alignment with the slot 36 and these ribs provide ameans of visual polarization between the housings l0 and 12. The ribs 38correspond to the rail members 30 on housing 12 and provide an easymeans for an operator to determine that the two housings are properlyoriented prior to any engagement between the housings.

In order to retain the housings in their assembled position, there isprovided wedge means 40 on housing 12 and corresponding latch means 42on housing 10, the wedge means cooperating to form a lock between thehousings. Latch means 42 has a central pivot section 44 about which thelatch may move during engagement of the housings. The wedge 40 deflectsthe forward portion 46 of the latch means outwardly to release thelatch, force is applied inwardly to portion 50 of 5 the latch meansthereby causing outward movement of portion 46 to thereby free the wedgemeans and allow disengagement of the housings.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art andvarious apparently different modifications and embodiments may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forthin the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by wayof illustration only.

We claim:

1. A connector housing assembly for contact terminals, said assemblycomprising first and second mating housings, each said housing being aunitary molding and comprising a block of plastic insulating materialhaving a contact receiving cavity extending therethrough and having aforward mating face and a rearward face, said first housing having aprojecting member extending forwardly of said first housing mating face,said projecting member having an aligning surface on each of oppositesides thereof which surfaces define the desired path of engagementbetween said first and second housings, said second housing havingreceiving means for receiving said projecting member, said receivingmeans being complementary to said aligning surface and comprising a pairof rail members adapted to receive said projecting member in slidingrelation, said rail members extending forwardly of said second housingmating face, slot means disposed along each of opposite sides of saidprojecting member for providing clearance for said rail members, wherebysaid projecting member and said receiving means cooperate to guide saidfirst and second housings together along a path defined by said aligningsurfaces.

2. A connector housing assembly as set forth in claim 1 furthercomprising rib means extending along said first housing in alignmentwith said slot means for providing visual polarization between saidfirst and second housings.

3. A connector housing assembly as set forth in claim 1 furthercomprising wedge means disposed along one of said housings andcomplementary latch means disposed along the other of said housings,said wedge means and said latch means cooperating to lock said housingstogether when in mated position.

4. A connector housing assembly as set forth in claim 3 wherein saidlatch means are pivotally secured to said other of said housings topermit pivotal movement of said latch means when engaged by said wedgemeans during mating of said housings.

